‘NAB drops inquiry against Arts Council’

Karachi
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is said to have dropped an inquiry into the alleged wrongdoings and misappropriation by the Arts Council (AC), Karachi, through a communication dated November 23.
This was announced by the secretary of the Arts Council, Ahmed Shah, at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Lauding the role and cooperation of the media, he said a NAB inquiry team came over to the Arts Council on July 25. The Arts Council’s governing body, he said, fully cooperated with them and furnished them with all the receipts and documents pertaining to the last eight years.
Shah noted that the opposition group, the Nainitalwala group, had made those allegations against the governing body of the Arts Council to NAB. He said NAB summoned all the contractors, builders and others related to the construction and uplift works, and checked all accounts. A television star of yesteryear, Munawwar Saeed, while addressing the press conference, said the Arts Council belonged to the whole country, not just to them, and that their opponents were disgracing not just the Arts Council but the most revered founders of the institution like Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Sadequain.
Arts Council President Prof Ejaz Farooqi said that when NAB instituted the investigations, the AC got bail from the Sindh High Court (SHC).
He said the real target of their opponents was not the Arts Council but its secretary, Ahmed Shah, because of the highly constructive and noteworthy achievements of the organisation. He recounted the major functions arranged by the organisation over the last very many years.
In reply to a question from a correspondent, Shah said that there was a provision in the Arts Council’s constitution that any member maligning the organisation could be expelled.
He said the governing body would soon be called to discuss the possibility.
The treasurer of the Arts Council, Shahnaz Siddiqui, said the NAB team members polite, cooperative and amiable.
Sehr Ansari said he had never withdrawn even a penny from the Arts Council accounts for any use other than an errand for the organisation.